Summer-time Fun!

Wow! What a summer! We had so much fun this summer seeing old friends and making new ones, visiting some of our favorite camps, traveling across this great state of ours in Truck Norris, and worshiping with about 2500 people in 6 weeks of camps!
We kicked off the summer in Oklahoma at Camp Egan with the Stillwater District camp and had a blast! Especially with Josh and the mud pit!  Then we headed to Austin, TX to do the music at the Redeemer Lutheran VBS where we learned that "Anything is possible with God!". We love any excuse to hang out in Austin! Great food, great friends and just a cool vibe up there in ATX.  After that we actually had a couple of weeks off, which usually never happens in the summer! It was a nice break, though to catch our breath and gear up for the run of camps we had up next!
We then headed to Camp Zephyr. What a cool place! Figuratively not literally, although this year was much cooler than in past years. Zephyr is one of our favorite places! The staff there is absolutely amazing!  Kenny Conley was the speaker again this year and did such a great job! We love hanging out with Camp Kenny! We did 3 pre-teen camps there in 2 weeks! Yeah, sounds crazy huh?!? It was great, except for the fact that I completely lost my voice! I got a nasty sinus infection and my voice said 'Adios!' This hasn't happend in the 11 years we have been doing this! At first we didn't know what we were going to do, but then my amazing wife stepped up and sang like an angel! She sang so beautifully and lead the worship through music like she had been doing it all her life! Thankfully, I was able to get some medicine and my voice came back by the end of the second camp and I was able to finish out the summer strong!
After those wonderful weeks at Zephyr, we headed to Big Country Camp. Nothing like west Texas in the middle of the summer! We had a great time and the kids were so responsive and wonderful to be around! We also got to hang out with a great speaker and friend, Shane Pruitt. He always has a wonderful way to connect with the kids!
This summer we had some new additions to the JGB. We took a new drummer, Timothy, and added an acoustic guitar player, Chandler. They were such a great find! We were so excited to have them join us this summer, and look forward to woking with them again!
There was one thing that kept coming up at these camps. One thing that we had never discovered before this summer. Something we had always heard about, but never had tried...Chicken Express! Oh man! I think that this summer, camp speakers were being payed by Chicken Express to promote their product. We had never tried it, but after hearing so much about it we HAD to find one. We lead worship at San Angelo FUMC on Sunday morning on our way to Big Country Camp and we had to grab lunch on our way out of town and what do you know...there was a Chicken Express right there in San Angelo! We went in, ordered our Chicken Express chicken tenders and dove in! Let me just say...there is nothing like Chicken Express chicken tenders...they were DELICIOUS! Chicken Express, you have some new fans!
Over all it was an AMAZING summer! Now, we get ready for a fun filled fall! We will be releasing out new HYMNS CD this September. We will aslo be traveling and doing Family Worship Nights all across the country! If you would like us to get to your church be sure to contact Michelle 210-317-6453 or michelle@justingravesband.com ! We would love to share the songs and gifts God has given us with your community! I love that this is what God has called us to do! I have included some pics from the summer. You can see more on our Facebook fan page www.facebook.com/justingravesband.  Hope your summer was as wonderful as ours! See you soon!

Last day at Camp Egen

 FLY! Redeemer Lutheran VBS

Getting ready to hit the road with Timothy and Chandler!

Worship at Camp Zephyr

Camp Zephyr ROCKS!

Michelle rockin the mic when I lost my voice!

Chicken Express!

Big Country Camp!

Concert at Big Country Camp!

Worship at Big Country

Willie says it best!

Yep...one of our favorite songs sung by the red headed stranger...On the road again! Just can't wait to get on the road again!

This was our first weekend back on the road in 2012 and we had such an amazing time! Michelle, Gabriella, and I headed up to Oklahoma and played in 3 towns in 2 days. Yeah it was fast and furious, but it was so much fun! There were multiple times that all three of us mentioned how fun it was to be back on the road. On the drive home we were trying to figure out what it was about being on the road that we all loved so much. We came up with a few different ideas as to what it is we love best about road life.

Is is the family time? We spend hours and hours in the truck together singing and playing and talking. We get to see and experience new places together making memories and growing our relationships.

Is it just being away from home? There is so much excitement about taking a road trip! You never know what you will come across along the way!

How about being with old friends? Because we travel so much we have formed some great relationships across the country. It is so much fun to see old friends, catch up on life, laugh, talk and and just hang out. In our opinion that is where a lot of ministry happens, in those one on one times over a nice juicy hamburger or hot cup of coffee. Some of our favorite memories are the times we get to just sit and talk and share stories about ministry.

Is it because we are always making new friends? It doesn't matter whether we are at a church or camp or just at a restaurant along the way, when you have someone as cute and friendly as our sweet Gabi new friends are made very easily!

Is it the fact that we get see so much of the country? Whenever we plan a trip we try to make it a learning experience for all of us. We look up and see what there is along the way that would be fun to visit. We have seen some great history, and experienced some very exciting things along the way!

Is it the fact that we get to stay in hotels? If it were up to Michelle we would live in a hotel. That is her dream. It is so much fun to stay in a fresh clean place and have breakfast waiting for you every morning when you wake up!

What we have discovered is that overwhelmingly the answer is D...all of the above! We are so excited to be on the road and and can not believe that God has called us to this incredible life!

We love our life on the road! Thank you God for continuing to bless us with new places and friends along the way!

Back in the saddle again!

This week we are preparing to get back on the road! We head to Oklahoma this weekend for the first road trip of the year. We are so excited to visit old friends and make new ones along our journey! The holidays have been a nice break for us, being home, relaxing, re-grouping, preparing for another exciting year, but we miss being on the road.

I can say with absolute certainty that this is what we were created to do! It is so exciting to know that God has called us to this life of traveling and leading worship, and that He continues to bring us new opportunities and encourage us along the way! Sure there are times that it is hard. We have countless stories of the crazy things that have happened to us while on the road, but through it all, God has been right there with us!

It is amazing to look back at the past 10 years and see where we started and where God has brought us. We have made 7 full length CD's, traveled to 16 different states and 2 countries, played at countless churches, camps and retreats, and we are still going strong! God continues to bring us fresh ideas, new songs, and provide us with new places to play and new people to meet! It is so exciting!

Michelle and I have often sat down and wondered how in the world this all works. We know that we are nothing special. We have no magical powers or secret weapon, we just have faith that God will put us right where He wants us when He wants us there. He continues to bring people into our life that encourage, help, and motivate us to keep pressing on.

So I am excited about this new year! I am looking forward to loading up Truck Norris (yep that is our trucks name) and heading up I-35 this weekend! When you see us driving by, be sure to wave! We will be looking for you!

Look out Oklahoma, here we come!

You live a different life.

I was hanging out with my friend Matt the other day, and we were talking about life and family and work and stuff. We started talking about the weather and how weather changes affect people.

My wife, Michelle, for example LOVES the cool weather. Any day it is cool enough she will open every window and every door in the house just so we can feel the cool breeze. It energizes her. It makes her more productive (her words). It gives her a pep in her step. She LOVES the cool weather! I, however, am not a fan of the weather changes. When the cool front blow in, I want to hide. I get cold easily. It makes my allergies act up. It causes me to loose my voice (which is how we make a living). I am not a fan of the cool weather.

As I was telling Matt all these things, and telling him about how we have to think about stuff like weather changes and how it affects our business his comment was "Wow, y'all live a different life." I asked him what he meant and we discussed it further. He told me how interesting it is that in our line of work we have to pay attention to things like the weather, how the time of year affects what we do, how we have to think about things that 'normal' people don't ever pay attention to. We had a good laugh, but it made me start thinking about his comment, "You live a different life."

Am I, as a Christ-follower, living a different enough life that people notice? Is my lifestyle different enough, that the people I come in contact with know there is something different about me? Is the way I treat my family and friends telling of my love for God?

It was a good wake-up call for me, a reality check of sorts, to remind me that I should be living my life in such a way that people who know me, and even strangers I meet would notice that I live a 'different life.' A life that reflects God's love, a life that is modeled after the greatest commandment, "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself."

So now that the cool weather is arriving, I will put on my sweat-shirt, load up on vitamin C and allergy medicine, and open all the windows and celebrate this wonderfully different life that God has called us to live!

The A-Team

     WOW! What an incredible summer!  We had such an amazing time with so many wonderful people!  We spent a lot of time in Truck Norris, and covered a good portion of Texas and Oklahoma, and all the while stayed healthy and happy!  Michelle had so many hats to wear this summer...mom, merch sales, bass player, back-up singer, road manager, video blog maker and wife, and she ROCKED them all!  I am so honored that she chose me! Gabi was especially wonderful! It is so much fun to see her grow up and discovering God's plan for her life.  She amazes me every day!   Isaac did an killer job on the drums, too! It was such a great team that God put together for this summer camp season!
     We spent the first week and last week of the summer at a place called Camp Egan.  What a wonderful place! Who knew there were such beautiful places in Oklahoma! Josh Pulver and the staff at Camp Egan were so welcoming and friendly, they made us feel right at home!  If you ever get a chance to go to Talequah, Oklahoma, look them up! www.okumcministries.org/Camps  facebook.com/campegan
     The first two weeks of July were spent with the wonderful people of Camp Zephyr. Shaune Martinez and Tyler Grantham were such wonderful hosts and took great care of us!  Durring that time we did 3 pre-teen camps with almost 500 kids each! www.campzephyr.org  www.facebook.com/campzephyr   We have loved going to that camp for many years, and this year did not disappoint!  We were to meet and work with some wonderful people.  Audie Lawley, and Bryon Compton, both from the Corpus Christi area,  were such great leaders and have become such wonderful friends! We hope to work with them again soon!  We also had the privilege to work with Kenny Conley from Gateway Community Church in Austin, Tx.  He was such a great communicator and teacher for the kids. He really made God's Word come to life for them, and even us!  Please check out his blog www.childrensministryonline.com He has some great ideas and wonderful thoughts on kids ministry and church ministry in general.
     It is so amazing to me how God brings so many people together from so many different places and ministries that have not worked together before and does such powerful things!  We can get so wrapped up in planning and preparing that we miss what God has in store for us.  When we get out of the way and seek God's plan and put our own expectations to the side, God moves in ways we never imagined. 
     I can hear God smiling and saying..."I just love it when a plan comes together!"